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Their response was no response, which showed the "all business" attitude the Lady Pats are taking in this post-season. "Their overall goal is to be back at Battle Creek and win it. That is just our expectation," USA coach Larry Houthoofd said.

He added, "Anything other than being down at Battle Creek and they will be disappointed; it is just the way they are."

The road to the finals for USA looked like it may end in Bad Axe early on, as Madison Heights Bishop Foley jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first two innings and racked up seven hits in the process. But despite being behind, Houthoofd knew that pitcher Marisa Lemere would settle down and keep the team in the ball game.

"She's a battler; she's not going to give up and she's not going to give in too many times," Houthoofd explained.

"The nice thing about Marisa is that she doesn't walk too many people, they have to earn it," he added. "In the first game, those hits were just bloop hits. There was nothing hit hard on her all day."

Those early hits only motivated Lemere to work harder on the mound. "I was kind of nervous in the beginning. I wasn't really hitting my spots," she explained. "After they got those hits I got pretty angry and buckled down. I hit my spots better and I (knew I) had my defense behind me (to help out)."

That anger also carried over to the plate in the top of the third when Lemere smacked a three-run homer to deep left center to give the Patriots the 3-2 edge (they scored five times that inning). "I had two strikes on me and thought this was good time for a home run and stepped in and I hit it," Lemere said.

Houthoofd added, "Our offense seems to go in spurts, but when you have good pitching on the mound it keeps us in the game."

"We've battled back all year, the kids know they can score two or three runs at any time," he continued. "We average 9.56 runs a game this year, so they are confident (at the plate)."

He expected the offense, which has struggled recently, to come around after a good week of practice. "We scrimmaged this week and had four home runs (including) a grand slam; the kids hit the ball hard during the week and it looked like it carried over to today," Houthoofd said.

That was apparent as the game progressed and USA plated four more runs in the top of the fourth and three in the fifth. In the fourth, Mercy Martinez had the big blow as she drove in a pair of runs with a double, while Dani Gremel knocked in two runs with a single in the fifth. Lemere had RBI doubles in both innings.

In the finals against Frankenmuth, Jillian Williamson got the offense going with an RBI single in the top of the second and Lemere had the key hit with a two run double to give the Lady Pats a three run edge.

Lemere was just as stellar on the mound in game two, as she was at the plate all day. She did not allow her first hit in the finale until the third inning, which ended a five inning stretch where she didn't allow a knock (from the third inning of game one through the second inning of game two).

"After that (rough start in game one) I knew what I had to do to get the job done and tried my hardest," Lemere explained.

That effort allowed her to get her first taste of what post-season success is like at USA. "I'm really excited because I've never had this before and I think (I've been able to finally experience that) because I have such a good team behind me," she explained.

The Regional title may just be the tip of the iceberg for the Patriots, who competed in quarters against Saginaw Swan Valley at Flushing. A win over SSV yesterday, would send them to Bailey Park in Battle Creek, where they would compete in the semis at 1 p.m. on Friday.